Friday, April 29, 2005

Japan's biggest mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, is makingcoinless payments with computer chip-embedded "walletphones" as easy as using a credit card.

The Tokyo-based mobile unit of Japan's toptelecommunications company, Nippon Telegraph andTelephone Corp., is investing about $925 million to takea 34 percent stake in Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., thecredit card unit of a major Japanese bank, both sidessaid Wednesday.

Since the service began last year, Japanese using NTTDoCoMo's "wallet phones" have climbed to some 3 millionpeople.

The wallet feature, which uses Sony Corp.'s FeliCa ICchip technology, is just the latest for thisgadget-loving nation's fancy handsets, including digitalcameras, portable TVs, e-mail and streaming videodownloads. All you need to do to make payments with awallet phone is swipe the handset next to a specialterminal set up at stores, which have climbed to 20,000shops nationwide.

The catch so far is that the money must be prepaid.People must first go to a special machine, where you putcash in the machine, which records the advance paymentsinto the chip inside your phone.

Now, the ceiling for such payments stands at $470, butthat's likely to grow with the credit card tie-up,according to NTT DoCoMo. Details - including securityconcerns, the card-brand name and when the service willbegin - have yet to be decided, it said.

The wallet phone, which can now also be used at somesoda-pop vending machines and restaurants, is part ofDoCoMo's ambitions to turn cell phones into the gadgetof choice for the future, replacing wallets, creditcards, tickets and keys.

NTT DoCoMo controls about 60 percent of the Japanesemobile market with 48 million customers. SumitomoMitsui Card is Japan's second-largest credit cardcompany with 12.8 million customers.